I’ve been quoted…
I’m a big fan of quotations. I even subscribe to a widget that sends me a couple of random ones each day. Usually they’re funny, or interesting, or thought-provoking. Sometimes they’re just plain dumb, or archaic — meaning that they’ve lost their meaning or context over time — but usually I find somthing of value within their brief insight.
A few weeks ago, I spoke at a writer’s convention about writer’s workshops. In my preamble, I offered a few insights into why workshops were necessary, or at least beneficial. Apparently, I said something therein that grabbed the interested of one of the listeners, because they took one of my passages and quoted me on their writer’s resource website.
When she informed me that she had posted the quotation, my mind flooded with thoughts: wow!; cool!; wait…; “my” quote?; what quote?; what did I say that was worth quoting? Well, I visited the site and found out exactly which passage had intrigued her.
Interesting enough, it was one that I didn’t think much of myself. Not because it’s not interesting, or even potentially quote-worthy, but because I didn’t think it was terribly original. In fact, at that precise moment, I feared that its originality might even be questionable.
Certainly, I knew it wasn’t plagiarized; I remembered writing it myself. I even remembered editing it twice to improve its flow and cadence. I even remembered changing where in the seminar it took place and tweaking it to fit its new home. But my mind nagged at me, that it couldn’t be worthy of a quote because someone, somewhere must have said something similar before me, or they must have written somthing along those lines where I had read it. I felt horrible, because if it wasn’t mine entirely, then I’d have to ask for it to be taken down and apologise.
Well, I Googled, I searched the quotation books, and I scanned every newsletter and book I could think of that may have offered the idea before me. And I couldn’t find a thing that even resembled the quote.
Woot!
Maybe it was the shock of having something I said posted out there as an insightful truism. Maybe it was my own self-doubt that I said anything profound or interesting enough to be quoted. Or maybe I just haven’t found that original reference and I’ll have to stand up and acknowledge that fact down the road.
Since I know I wrote it, edited it, and chose its context within the seminar. Since I can’t find any source that could have influenced the passage, even though I looked long and hard for it. Since I have no reason to believe that anyone but myself is responsible for its existence, I’ll humbly accept the honour and say thank you, Sherry, for finding something I said either interesting or insightful enough to share with others.
I still think that it’s a rather basic and obvious statement, but I do feel a certain pride in its simplicity and cadence. If others find something to like in it, then that makes me even happier.
I wonder what it says about my mind, though. When, along with being proud and flattered from the start, I also second-guessed myself and my words.
For those who are interested in what I said that warrants a spotlight, the exact line was:
“The written word only fulfills its destiny when it is read.”
You can find the website where it resides here, at the Scriptorium. I’m not sure how long it will remain there, but I’m touched, honoured, and a little scared that it appeared there at all…
Tags: Quotations, speaking, Writing
Sorry I rattled you so with this! I did do a *leetle* checking myself to see if there was another provenance for the quote (I once found a passage remarkably like something I’d written, in a book I’d read the first time *ten years* before, so I know how stuff can hide out in our brains), but I decided it was yours and yours alone.
And although you might think it’s obvious, I think it’s a great reminder for all those aspiring writers too worried about success/failure/everything to send their work out.